Strike Fighter Guide/Help?

[tunewalker]

In the current game, especially as there is an abundance of new inexperienced players, charged plating works very well. As time goes on, that will change, but there are other skills to use, as you pointed out.

 

Absolutely been running Charged plating myself for a long while now. Its only when the premade grup of Imps that know I run it do I switch because I know 5 out of the 8 of them run full on armor piercing builds. Its making me work so much hard for everything against them lol.

[AdolfIvanovich]

my choise:

1.HLC

2.Ion Canon

3.Concussion Missiles

4.Quiсk-Сharge Shild

5.Koiogran Turn

6.Dmg capacitor

7.Regeneraion extender

8.Large reactor

9. Power thrusters

10. Wingman copilot ab.

 

Really like fast kill with ion canon - missile=)

[Grahame]

...Another use is countering the accuracy/evasion mechanic. By firing more shots you get more RNG rolls which means more chances to hit. Against a scout with maxed passive evasion this is a striker's only component that can, in the indirect way of more RNG rolls, counter evasion (strikers having no components that passively or actively buff weapon accuracy beyond their base accuracy stat)...

 

No offense Gavin, but this isn't actually true. Every shot you fire has to overcome the same evasion stat. Firing more weaker blaster shots does not overcome this any better than slower heavier hitting ones. It reduces the DPS of both by the same fraction.

 

Rapids do have the advantage of the lowest tracking penalty and that's where they gain the biggest advantage in a close range shoot out.

[Delta_V]

No offense Gavin, but this isn't actually true. Every shot you fire has to overcome the same evasion stat. Firing more weaker blaster shots does not overcome this any better than slower heavier hitting ones. It reduces the DPS of both by the same fraction.

 

Rapids do have the advantage of the lowest tracking penalty and that's where they gain the biggest advantage in a close range shoot out.

 

If you can sustain fire for long enough, this is true. However, w/ the short windows you see in a dogfight, the difference in total shots fired will play a role.

 

If you can only get a few shots off, you are more likely to see all of your shots miss (although you are also more likely to see all of them hit). A rapid-firing weapon will have more RNG rolls, and thus you are more likely to see at least *some* of them hit (and conversely, it's more likely at least some will miss). Basically, the rapid-firing weapon will average out the dps in a short window and will be more consistent. With a slower firing weapon, you might get lucky and have most shots land, or you might get unlucky and have all of them miss.

[Armonddd]

If you can sustain fire for long enough, this is true. However, w/ the short windows you see in a dogfight, the difference in total shots fired will play a role.

 

What you're saying is that rapid fire lasers will have a smoother curve against the RNG. It's different from your original claim that they're better against the RNG, but I think you know that, even if you didn't expressly state it at first.

[Delta_V]

What you're saying is that rapid fire lasers will have a smoother curve against the RNG. It's different from your original claim that they're better against the RNG, but I think you know that, even if you didn't expressly state it at first.

 

I wasn't the one who made the original claim

 

But thank you, you managed to put it more succinctly than I was able to.

[Tenacity]

I do fairly well with strike fighters. When I first started playing GSF I primarily flew scouts, but recently switched to the strike fighter as my main craft and I'm doing great in it.

 

I think the biggest issue with strikes right now is power levels. As an ex-scout pilot, I like being able to boost around a lot, I like being able to get between objectives or close distance on an enemy ship. With the strike fighter, even with engine upgrades and power to engines, I'm almost constantly out of engine power, which makes dogfighting much more dangerous. I really think that if anything's going to change with strike fighter balance it needs to be reduced boost cost or increased engine power so that they can actually keep doing maneuvers in those close in fights.

[Sharee]

Rapids do have the advantage of the lowest tracking penalty and that's where they gain the biggest advantage in a close range shoot out.

 

I believe burst laser actually has the lowest tracking penalty(0.5% per degree). Rapids are 0.8% per degree.

 

[Edit] nevermind i just realized this is a strike fighter thread. Rapids have the lowest tracking penalty of the weapons available to that craft.

Edited January 18, 2014 by Sharee

[Zharik]

my choise:

1.HLC

2.Ion Canon

3.Concussion Missiles

4.Quiсk-Сharge Shild

5.Koiogran Turn

6.Dmg capacitor

7.Regeneraion extender

8.Large reactor

9. Power thrusters

10. Wingman copilot ab.

 

Really like fast kill with ion canon - missile=)

 

Ok so you open up with the ion and missile... so why are you running Heavy lasers? Their tracking penalty is the worst at 2% per degree iirc...

[Delta_V]

I do fairly well with strike fighters. When I first started playing GSF I primarily flew scouts, but recently switched to the strike fighter as my main craft and I'm doing great in it.

 

I think the biggest issue with strikes right now is power levels. As an ex-scout pilot, I like being able to boost around a lot, I like being able to get between objectives or close distance on an enemy ship. With the strike fighter, even with engine upgrades and power to engines, I'm almost constantly out of engine power, which makes dogfighting much more dangerous. I really think that if anything's going to change with strike fighter balance it needs to be reduced boost cost or increased engine power so that they can actually keep doing maneuvers in those close in fights.

 

This is the biggest reason I don't use Strike Fighters when I solo queue. I can deal w/ the reduced maneuverability, but the reduced mobility is a killer. In a pug group, I never know when I'm gonna have to run over to defend another node because the people defending it got bored and left. Or if a gunship shows up at the node I'm defending, I can't count on teammates to boost out and deal with it. In those types of situations, the strikes' lack of mobility is a huge disadvantage. The extra mobility of the Flashfire just makes it much easier to pick up the slack in a solo queue.

[Armonddd]

I wasn't the one who made the original claim

 

Herp! My bad.

[JadedJasper]

In theory this is true but against a scout this strength can be completely nullified and flipped to actually be the strength of the scout. Primarily by using Distortion Field's invulnerability to completely nullify a striker's blaster weaponry leaving their only option to maybe get a single missile off in a joust.

 

So while jousting can be a good strategy against a scout it should be done with extreme caution as scout's have the mobility to set the rules of an engagement so if they're willing entering into a joust with you odds are they plan to pop distortion field and blow you out of the sky while taking minimal to no damage in return fire.

 

Kinda screwed up IMO that the ship with the weakest defenses can actually be better at jousting than a ship with much stronger defenses but that's the situation we currently have.

*shrug* I wasn't talking in theory, but in practice. I do worse in my Star Guard than my other ships, but that's due to other factors and I still top the leader boards with it from time to time.

 

Distortion Field is just something you learn to deal with. With Heavy Lasers you can open up well before they can; if they're not taking damage you just jink and boost so neither of you can hit well, then come around for another pass after Distortion Field is on cooldown. You can still hit well at max range should they try the same as this defense only provides enough arc and closure to work up close, which combined with your Direction Shields is what gives you the jousting edge. I blast even good pilots this way.

 

I play the flip side as a Scout using Distortion Field too, and while it's a great against the many pilots who do just fly straight at you it's much less useful against experienced pilots who just stall it out. I get blasted as a Scout by good Strike Fighter jousters too, and so I'm careful to avoid jousting if I recognize the pilot. Well, I'll still take a crack if I have Distortion Field ready. ;-)

 

As I play more I'm beginning to like Distortion Field less as it's so easy to avoid, though that base +15% Evasion is nice. I might actually switch back to Quick Charge Shields! I'm also considering Engine Power Converter combined with swapping Thruster Regen -> Sensor Beacon.

Edited January 19, 2014 by JadedJasper

[AdolfIvanovich]

Ok so you open up with the ion and missile... so why are you running Heavy lasers? Their tracking penalty is the worst at 2% per degree iirc...

HLC have long range and cool acc. - i use it in chasing=)

[Tenacity]

Played two matches today, using my star guard strike fighter. Results:

 

Game 1:

10 kills (tied with one opposing player for most kills)

3 assists

3 deaths

40,166 damage (Highest damage)

35% hit rate

106 objective points (third highest objective points)

9 medals (second most medals)

 

Game 2:

10 kills (highest by 2 kills)

6 assists

0 deaths

32,879 damage (highest damage)

31% hit rate

291 objective points (highest score)

13 medals (most medals)

 

 

Most of my games are similar for that character/ship. I havent bought a pike on my shadow, but I tried one briefly on my commando and found it very lacking - the choice of two secondary weapons is inferior to a choice of two primaries in my opinion.

The vast majority of my kills come from heavy lasers, I'd say probably 50-60%. Maybe 10-15% of my kills are from rapid fire lasers, and the rest (25-30%) are from concussion missiles.

 

I have the most issues dealing with gunships, believe it or not - as I said before my strike is always lacking engine power, so I cant boost very much, which makes hunting down those 15k gunships a pain. I cant recall the last time I lost to a scout though. I invested in turning rate upgrades, and I tend to use the environment to my advantage, sticking to areas where I can use the asteroids or other superstructures to help me corner an enemy or shield me from fire. Point B on kuat mesas is probably my ideal kill zone - every time I camp that point by myself as a defender I end up getting massive killstreaks from enemies trying to come in and capture the point.

[BrianDavion]

I think the strike fighter is agood, but the manuverability/speed gap between them and scouts is a bit too large and they could use a buff

[Gavin_Kelvar]

*shrug* I wasn't talking in theory, but in practice. I do worse in my Star Guard than my other ships, but that's due to other factors and I still top the leader boards with it from time to time.

 

Fair enough. As the OP was asking for advice I just felt it should be pointed out that, currently, scouts will try to bait a striker into a joust because they know they can become invulnerable and destroy the striker. Didn't want the OP to try jousting and wonder if they were doing something wrong if they fell to that tactic.

[JadedJasper]

Good point! Pretty much every match I burn a couple of green pilots head on while popping Distortion Field (or Directional Shields) simply because they don't yet understand what's going on. Retro Thruster can be a rude surprise in such a situation too. Edited January 20, 2014 by JadedJasper

[xyrmagus]

Played two matches today, using my star guard strike fighter. Results:

 

*snip*

 

Most of my games are similar for that character/ship. I havent bought a pike on my shadow, but I tried one briefly on my commando and found it very lacking - the choice of two secondary weapons is inferior to a choice of two primaries in my opinion.

 

I used to have similar numbers to you on my Pike. Then, after succumbing to peer pressure from my friends, I finally decided to give the flashfire a try, and dumped ~90k fleet req into it. First game: 55k damage (using the burst/cluster/distortion meta). Now I *REGULARLY* break 50k damage and 12 kills on any game with any real competition (some games we spawn camp so badly it's hard to get any hits in unless you're a gunship). I have gotten a ton of 15+ kills, while also getting WAY more objective points than I ever could on my pike, and much fewer deaths.

 

Point being similar to what a lot of others have echoed in this thread: with the current game setup, there is simply no place for strikes. All other things being equal, scouts and gunships will outperform strikes. Bioware's desire to make SF's well-rounded ships has failed horribly because they are MUCH weaker than ships that excel at one thing. Also adorable that the flashfire's description specifically says it can't go toe to toe with strike fighters, yet I literally fly circles around them while critting for 1200+ with my burst lasers. Hell, I don't even NEED missiles most of the time (often when I run out of missiles I just don't fly into a wall, but rather focus on killing with lasers).

[Kain_Turinbar]

I guess for some it comes to preference and skillset.

 

I have a pretty well upgraded IL-5 and I do well with it but not as well as I do with my Pike. One thing that annoys me about the IL-5 is the rare "instagib" from a gunship you didn't see. My Pike is built strong enough for this to not ever happen; usually I can boost after the initial hit, locate and chase away/kill. Sure, if you spot them before they hit you in the scout d-field and waste them but when you're really involved in fighting multiple opponents at a sat sometimes you get hit by one unexpectedly.

 

Also I definitely have a preference for missiles which probably plays into my preference. When I play my IL-5 it isn't common to have twice as many kills as assists and vice versa with my Pike. I guess I need to sharpen my blaster skills.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Kain_Turinbar

[Tenacity]

I used to have similar numbers to you on my Pike. Then, after succumbing to peer pressure from my friends, I finally decided to give the flashfire a try, and dumped ~90k fleet req into it. First game: 55k damage (using the burst/cluster/distortion meta). Now I *REGULARLY* break 50k damage and 12 kills on any game with any real competition (some games we spawn camp so badly it's hard to get any hits in unless you're a gunship). I have gotten a ton of 15+ kills, while also getting WAY more objective points than I ever could on my pike, and much fewer deaths.

 

Point being similar to what a lot of others have echoed in this thread: with the current game setup, there is simply no place for strikes. All other things being equal, scouts and gunships will outperform strikes. Bioware's desire to make SF's well-rounded ships has failed horribly because they are MUCH weaker than ships that excel at one thing. Also adorable that the flashfire's description specifically says it can't go toe to toe with strike fighters, yet I literally fly circles around them while critting for 1200+ with my burst lasers. Hell, I don't even NEED missiles most of the time (often when I run out of missiles I just don't fly into a wall, but rather focus on killing with lasers).

 

I agree that I could do better in a scout - I often do on my commando, as I've got an upgraded flashfire on him. My shadow only flies the star guard though. My point was that it's possible to do well in a strike fighter, it's just not nearly as easy as a gunship or scout.

 

I definitely think strikes are in need of improvement, the question is where they need to be improved. Personally, the bulk of my frustrations with my star guard lie in power management - I never have enough engine power, regardless of which type of engine upgrades I use. Even having my power distributed to engines, I feel like the regeneration rate is far too low. My scout regenerates engine power like mad with F3, and I can boost forever, but my strike fighter doesnt seem to gain very much from diverting power to engines.

 

That lack of mobility is the strike fighter's greatest weakness, IMO. A strike fighter cant even boost to the closest point from spawn before running dry on engine power (with power diverted to engines) - my scout can boost all the way to the center point from spawn and still have enough power left over for maneuvering and evasive abilities. Also, despite the supposed range advantage on strike fighter weaponry (7k~ heavy lasers and concussion missiles), a scout can easily boost away from me and escape, while my engine power runs dry in seconds.

 

Also, for some reason gunships seem to be able to out-boost my strike fighter all the time, it's almost like they have as much engine power available as the scouts do, while still being tougher than a strike to burn down.

 

 

If it were up to me, I'd:

 

1. Increase engine power reserve and regeneration rate for strike fighters, and reduce boosting cost, by a moderate percentage. They shouldnt be able to boost as long or regen engine power as fast as scouts, but they at least need the mobility to get between points without constantly being out of engine power.

 

2. Increase strike fighter turn rate while moving at low speeds. In an open space dogfight, of course a scout should be able to out-fly a strike fighter, but strikers seem to be designed for satellite defense, and when you're flying in close quarters trying to defend a point from attack you need to be able to keep your guns pointed at the enemy. This would also alleviate some of the ridiculous satellite-circling we have going on.

 

3. Add some extra missile types and gun types to strike fighters to open up some variety. Right now all star guards are running heavy lasers, rapid lasers, and concussion missiles. The pike doesnt have any real options for variety with secondaries either, and that's one reason I didnt even bother unlocking it on my second GSF character.

Sabotage probes would be a nice option for the pike. I think both strike fighter variants should have access to rocket pods (though I dont think many would use them). I also think there should be some extra torpedo varieties available - it sure would be nice to have an anti-gunship torpedo that could target at 15+k range so you can pick off gunships without having to get in their kill zone.

For primaries, I think burst lasers should be available for the basic (double primary) strike fighters like the star guard, or at least light lasers. There just needs to be some other close range alternative to rapid fires available for them. Heavy lasers for the pike/advanced strikes would be nice too.

[Lendul]

That lack of mobility is the strike fighter's greatest weakness, IMO. A strike fighter cant even boost to the closest point from spawn before running dry on engine power (with power diverted to engines) ....

 

Also, for some reason gunships seem to be able to out-boost my strike fighter all the time, it's almost like they have as much engine power available as the scouts do, while still being tougher than a strike to burn down.

 

 

My Pike has fully upgraded speed thrusters and fully upgraded Barrel Roll with the speed upgrade. I can get to A or C on either map with engine power to spare most of the time I beat the scouts there as well. The trick is using Barrel Roll on cool down to travel.

[Zharik]

1. Increase engine power reserve and regeneration rate for strike fighters, and reduce boosting cost, by a moderate percentage. They shouldnt be able to boost as long or regen engine power as fast as scouts, but they at least need the mobility to get between points without constantly being out of engine power.

This is the scouts niche and this would be infringing on it. Want to get to a satellite faster in your strike? Use barrel Roll engines like everyone else.

2. Increase strike fighter turn rate while moving at low speeds. In an open space dogfight, of course a scout should be able to out-fly a strike fighter, but strikers seem to be designed for satellite defense, and when you're flying in close quarters trying to defend a point from attack you need to be able to keep your guns pointed at the enemy. This would also alleviate some of the ridiculous satellite-circling we have going on.

Maybe an ever-so-slight boost to turning would help, but I'd like to see changes elsewhere first.

3. Add some extra missile types and gun types to strike fighters to open up some variety. Right now all star guards are running heavy lasers, rapid lasers, and concussion missiles.

They already have the most variety. I run ion, rapid-laser, and cluster missiles with 10% speed and turning upgrades (engines and thrusters) and she acts a lot like a scout with a shield ripping ion gun. Works well for me. Do I have issues with engine pool? I usually leave high engine regen on, so not unless I get rocked early and need to rebuild shields.

 

I'd like to see a slight boost to ion cannon range. 4k is terrible for a weapon that HAS to be used first to be effective. In a similar note, the Pike's ion missile is terrible for the same reason.

[JadedJasper]

I definitely think strikes are in need of improvement, the question is where they need to be improved. Personally, the bulk of my frustrations with my star guard lie in power management - I never have enough engine power, regardless of which type of engine upgrades I use. Even having my power distributed to engines, I feel like the regeneration rate is far too low. My scout regenerates engine power like mad with F3, and I can boost forever, but my strike fighter doesnt seem to gain very much from diverting power to engines.

 

That lack of mobility is the strike fighter's greatest weakness, IMO. A strike fighter cant even boost to the closest point from spawn before running dry on engine power (with power diverted to engines) - my scout can boost all the way to the center point from spawn and still have enough power left over for maneuvering and evasive abilities. Also, despite the supposed range advantage on strike fighter weaponry (7k~ heavy lasers and concussion missiles), a scout can easily boost away from me and escape, while my engine power runs dry in seconds.

What engineer companion are you using? The ones that give 13% reduction in Thrust used make a big difference.

 

And yeah, you definitely need to switch to Barrel Roll if you want mobility.